Aam

Click here for an audio guide by Srila Chatterjee

This crate of mangoes carries a few varieties of the fruit. Small mangoes, shaped like
hearts, hold on to the grid as small puffs of smoke escape, releasing flavour and stories.
Stories of fantasy, stories that obfuscate the truth, stories that the ‘mango-people’ tell
themselves to escape harsh realities of life.

Mango symbolises summer, fecundity, and luxury.
A diplomatic present, a repeated motif in paintings and fabric,
From Babur to Bahadur Shah, the emperors all discuss mangoes,
Mangoes were an easy way into a ruler’s heart.
Mangoes are the heart of the subcontinent.

Mango is more than just a fruit, anything but common.

Size: height 32 in. x breadth 36 in. x depth 7 in.

Materials: a metal reproduction of the tazia form, vintage metal hubbly-bubbly (a type
of handheld hookah), lac, incomplete miniature painting which was detailed with
mangoes in the atelier of Riyazuddin, found glass mango, acrylic sheet, paint, and scrap
metal leaves.